Page 2 of Flip the Field
“Y’all go without me,” I waved off the shirt and headed back toward my room. “I’m allergic to shellfish.”
“Dude.” Matthews stepped in front of me. I blinked and stepped back. As the star wide receiver on the Thackeray College football team, he moved as fast off the field as he did on it. “Come on, Brady. Don’t be that guy.”
I blinked. “What guy?”
“You know how you are,” He shook the shirts in front of my face. “If you’re going to be our team’s leader, you have to show up.”
“You read that in How To Be A Leader In Eight Easy Steps?” I took the shirt.
“Yeah, prick,” He shook his head. “That’s step four.”
Matthews had touted my leadership ability since I arrived in campus. He had regaled the team with stories of my heroics in high school. I had taken my team to two consecutive state championships and won them both. It was clear at my first practice that I had a better arm than our current quarterback, but he was a senior. No way I’d get in unless he hurt himself.
Of course, Matthews conveniently left off the part of the story which explained why a four-star recruit wasn’t playing for a power conference team. Which was fine by me.
I didn’t play nice with others sometimes. Obnoxious, full of themselves, arrogant assholes specifically made my stomach turn, mostly because I used to be one of those guys and it got me in trouble. Besides, our starting quarterback, Duncan Duberville, had it covered. As long as I kept my head down and stayed in the background, I’d be fine.
“Lobster bake’s calling our name.” Matthews motioned for us to follow. I pulled on the blue button down, brushed my shaggy brown hair out of my eyes and followed in step behind Jimmy and Daniel.
The elevator arrived almost full. “What up, Logan?” I nodded as the hockey player scooted to the side. All of Thackeray’s student athletes shared the same dorm.
“Brady.” He held out his hand. I shook it and patted his back.
Logan was new on campus too, but he was already a big-time hockey goalie and all of campus knew about him. The season hadn’t even started yet. He’d told me he had taken a gap year to play junior hockey and get better. I took a gap year, too, but I wasn’t sure I could apply the skills I learned to the football field.
We strolled across campus, following the crowd toward the football stadium. The smell of seafood hung heavy in the air. Several stations were set up in a semi-circle with miles and miles of food and drinks. Tables had been set up in the center.
Matthews and the guys spoke to people on the way. Thackeray wasn’t a big school, and although I knew no one, it appeared everyone knew me. Girls waved. Guys pointed. I was two seconds away from heading back to the dorm when I skidded to a stop.
Daniel bumped into me and grunted.
I yanked on Daniel’s shirt to get him to stop. “Who’s that?” I gestured to a table a few feet away.
“Hey, Amerie.” Matthews headed in her direction.
Daniel chuckled. “Good luck with that.” He followed Matthews.
Amerie was easily the hottest girl I’d seen in my twenty-one years on earth. Her eyes narrowed at the sound of her name. She pushed her long brown hair off her shoulders and flashed Matthews the sexiest smile. It made my cock hard, and my chest tightened.
Matthews wrapped his arms around her and rested his hands on her lower back, just above the top of her ass. I was jealous. I continued toward them, pushing down the urge to pull his hands off her. If I broke a finger or two in the process, it was the price he owed for putting his hands on her. Lucky for him, he let her go.
“April.” Matthews hugged the cute brunette with bright green eyes next to Amerie.
Amerie. God, the sound of her name made me hard.
I stood a foot to the side of them with my hands in my pockets.
“I want y’all to meet my boy,” Matthews stepped to the side. “Amerie, April, I’d like y'all to meet Brady.”
“Hey,” April waved.
“Hi,” Amerie nodded and smiled. “Welcome to Thackeray.” Her voice made me check to make sure my shirt wasn’t wrinkled. She had a sophisticated air, but then she licked her lips and I fought the urge to grab her and kiss her face off.
I should probably at least speak to her first.
I opened my mouth, but before I could form a word, Duncan came out of nowhere, wrapping an arm around Amerie’s waist and practically carried her away from me. Like I needed another reason to hate him.
My chest tightened. They disappeared around the back of one of the tents.
